


Luck

by Blue_Hood



Series: Power Prompts [16]
Category: Gambit (Comic), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Alternate Universe - X-Men Fusion, Attempt at Remy LeBeau's Accent, BAMF Remy LeBeau, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Remy LeBeau, Bisexual Tony Stark, Brotherhood, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Crimes & Criminals, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Hurt Kurt Wagner, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Kurt Wagner Deserves Happiness, Kurt Wagner Tries, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki Redemption (Marvel), M/M, Mentor Tony Stark, Mutant Politics, Mutant Powers, Mutant Tony Stark, Mutants, Organized Crime, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partners in Crime, Please Don't Kill Me, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Powerful Charles Xavier, Protective Remy LeBeau, Rare Pairings, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Thieves Guild, Thor is Not Stupid (Marvel), Work In Progress, Xavier Institute, thief Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:28:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Expansion of Chapter 57 of What Superpower Should Tony Stark Have?What if Tony had the power to steal luck? What if he was raised in N'Awlins? What if he was at the bar where Logan met Rogue? Would those things make for a better world or a worse one?
Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Tony Stark
Series: Power Prompts [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986601
Comments: 25
Kudos: 18





	1. The Bar

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to keep the French simple and just now realized I haven't included translations. Oops. I'll put them in Chapter 7 and at the start of the fic. Let me know if I missed any. Here goes:  
> Oui - yes  
> Non - no  
> Cher - dear (masculine but I've seen it used for both genders)  
> Chere - dear (feminine, not even sure it made the cut with the monster Chapter 6 was to write)  
> Mon ami - my friend (I've seen it used sarcastically, mighta used it that way myself)  
> Mon amour - my love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter 57 from the original fic, as always the story starts where it starts. Here is the summary from that chapter: Can steal luck, cursing the people they absorb from with bad luck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT 1/22/21: I was re-reading this fic and noticed a continuity error in regards to Emma. I need her alive for the HYDRA reveal so I had to change something Tony said in this chapter. I will (probably) go and update the original chapter in What Superpower Should Tony Stark Have? I had to call him a Stark for that work but in this, he tends to use other last names. 
> 
> There might be a bit of a disconnect between this chapter, which was set up as a one-shot, and later chapters but I'll do my best to keep it flowing. Let me know if you notice any errors on my part in this fic and I could use some help with Remy's dialogue. I do not have a Beta, I just have your comments. Thanks and enjoy the fic

Tony Stark and Remy LeBeau were the perfect partners in crime, both charming ladies men and master poker players. Both were morally grey, Tony seeing no problem with taking a stroll through any and all nearby casinos to gather up their luck before a job and Remy, well, Gambit ain't no hero and dat's da truth if Gambit does say so himself (and he does). Tony sometimes shared his luck, usually when he passed a serious crime scene and saw the detectives on scene, he gave the boys in blue a bit of luck to help them along. Remy was his favorite recipient, he always split the luck before a job to ensure they both made it out. Sometimes, he called them the orphan version of Romeo and Juliet, they were adopted by different guilds but no ancient feud could keep them apart. Tony made it clear that he would back Remy if it came down to a duel and so he was banished along with his lover.

Rogue was a girl down on her luck when she wandered into that bar in Alberta and got very lucky. Remy sat beside his fellow mutant and smiled at her, reaching up to flip the lenses of his sunglasses up and let her see he means her no harm. "What's yer name, cher?"

"Rogue," she answered quietly.

"I am Gambit, me amour Lucky Charm is currently puttin' on a show wit' da Wolverine," he pointed to the cage where the slim luck mutant was indeed messing with the stocky fighter. "I t'ink we all gon' end up in da same place."

"What?" Rogue was suddenly scared.

Remy replayed his own words in his head and slapped himself then pointed to the TV where the news was covering the impending mutant summit, "Or did I miss my guess and yer just a normal runaway?"

"You didn't miss your guess."

Remy flipped the lenses down and called the bartender to order the only non-alcoholic drink they served, ordering three. Then he turned back to Rogue and counted down on one hand until Lucky Charm was taken down and tapped out. The slim mutant came over just as the drinks were set down, the bartender walking away without asking for payment. He glared playfully at his lover "Don't call me Lucky Charm."

"How did you-?"

"Remy's got a bad habit, a few but calling me Lucky Charm is the most troublesome. My name is Tony and Gambit is Remy, you?"

"Rogue, or I guess Marie."

"Rogue, unless you start talking in the third person like Rem', I think we'll get along fine." Tony pulled out a business card and handed it to her, "Tell me what you think." The card was for Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. On the back, Rogue saw as she examined it, the words Mutant High and X-Men Hotline were written in messy scrawl. "They give a lot of runaways like you scholarships."

"I'll give it a shot."

"Great, now we just have to wait for last call."

"Why?"

"Because Remy and I have a job to do." Tony tapped his friend on the shoulder and Remy went over to the cage, watching the fight. Tony turned to Rogue and tapped the school's logo "They might meet us if we time things right." He smiled "You'll be fine, one sec." He ducked a sucker punch and turned to face his attacker, skillfully taking the man down before popping back up "Sorry 'bout that. That guy lost to Wolverine earlier and apparently took offense to the ease with which I evaded the champion, strange but alright."

"What kind of freak are you?"

Tony raised an eyebrow as he explained "The kind that's not blind. I saw the bartender reach for his gun, dumbass." The bartender then used said gun to kick the rowdy drunk out, "Thanks for that."

"You didn't see me reach for it."

"Not until I dodged and his hand slammed down, no but truth is often stranger than fiction."

"Right," the old man said.

They left after last call, the bartender producing a six pack on the house for Wolverine. "What do you two want?"

Tony said "Just safe passage. Four mutants are safer together than three and a loner. We'll follow your lead, Remy's a bit of a precog. I just do what he says." Tony snapped his fingers "Oh, and uh, your name is James Howlett Junior or it was, you are the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Howlett and Thomas Logan, a man named Victor Creed is your paternal half-brother. Your amnesia is the result of an adamantium bullet to the brain, your claws are actually bone forcefully coated in adamantium by the same man who shot you, William Stryker, head of the Weapon X program. I could tell you more but we're running out of time."

"How do you know all of that?"

"Remy and I broke into Weapon X once, we also got involved with the late Emma Frost, a telepath whose sister was killed by Weapon X agents. We need to go so are you in or are you out?"

"Guess I'm in."

"Plus I played cards with your brother once, just to freak his boss out. You'll see."

The attack was even less successful with three adult mutants trained in combat to support the two X-Men. Tony went down the list of things he knew about Logan, feeding him luck stolen from Sabretooth and pretty much every man in the bar to make the memories come easier, pausing when Logan said he was remembering. "Thanks, kid."

"No problem."

The two N'Awlins boys only stayed through the summit but they managed to teach a lot of students how to play poker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday I went through the comments on the original fic and got in a discussion with randomplotbunny (bunny for short) about possibly expanding the luck chapter to give my readers more Remy. Fair warning, I have no idea where this is gonna go. For now, I'm going to follow the X-Men movie as much as possible but I would like some input on how I could work in MCU elements (that's the Avengers movieverse for those not in the know). Please comment, kudo and prompt


	2. The Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the X-Men movie plot, they leave the bar and get ambushed on the road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next ten or so chapters, I will be using the first X-Men movie to provide background and establish character for Remy and Tony. Then we'll have maybe chapters dedicated to X-2, setting up for the Avengers. I am going for an X-Men/Avengers movieverse fusion wherein Tony Stark did not grow up as a Stark, not an easy thing but not impossible (I hope). Enjoy the story

Remy and Tony had motorcycles so Rogue had to ride with Logan in his truck. Tony whispered a quick word to Logan about her powers before getting on his bike. "Logan, Wolverine. Marie, Rogue. Remy, Gambit. I just go by Tony, haven't found something associated with luck that doesn't sound silly. Now that we've all been introduced, let's get going."

The truck crashed and with quick reflexes, the two Louisiana boys got their bikes around the accident before jumping off. Remy withdrew his bo staff, charging it while Tony jumped into the cab of the truck and pulled Rogue out, huddling near his bike. "What was that?"

"Uh, that would be the danger Remy foresaw that led us to you. Are you asking who attacked Logan?"

"Yeah."

"That would be his brother, Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth. Remy's helping but we're actually just buying time for the professionals to get here. Got that card I gave you?"

"Yeah," Rogue pulled it out.

"Look out for the logo."

Logan was knocked out and Remy called for "Li'l help!"

Tony jumped up to provide a bit of back up then froze as the wind shifted, a smile spreading across his face. A blast of red energy hit Sabretooth, knocking him away. Tony grabbed Rogue's covered arm and ran towards the source. "Gambit and Wolverine are on our side. Any chance we can secure our bikes on your jet?" Cyclops nodded. Tony advised "Whatever you do, don't touch her skin," then ran to get his bike, Remy joining him to get his own, they both ran the bikes onto the Blackbird while Storm levitated Wolverine aboard. As soon as everyone took a seat, they were off.

"Who are you?" asked Cyclops.

"We're, uh, part-time recruiters for your school. You can ask the Professor when we get there." Tony asked Rogue "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. Glad to hear it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback makes my world go round


	3. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets the X-Men, officially, and accidentally exposes his own dark secret

The Professor met them with a red haired woman, Dr. Jean Grey. "Hi, Chuck."

"Tony," Charles, who had known the other mutant since the boy was four years old, turned to the man in the long trench coat, "Might I presume you are Remy LeBeau?"

"That I am," Remy performed a showy bow.

"Rogue," the girl looked at him, a little wide eyed. "You are safe here, child, I assure you."

Tony told her "The guy in the wheelchair is Professor Charles Xavier, the world's most powerful telepath and one of the top five oldest mutants. If he can spend decades wheelchair bound in one place then you can be sure four years won't get you killed. I mean, I don't know what grade you're in so maybe you won't be here that long but if it's safe for him then it's safe for you. The doctor is Jean Grey, also a telepath, not nearly as powerful as Chuck but she's got telekinesis too so I'd say it's a fair trade. Cyclops over there is Scott Summers and Storm is Ororo Munroe. The X-Men are also the teachers here at," he pointed to the card she was still holding. "K?"

"You talk really fast," observed Scott.

"Grew up surrounded by professional killers, who really didn't like me. I learned a few skills to survive."

"What?"

Tony blinked, replayed what he just said in his head then cursed himself, "My name is Anton Boudreaux but I was born Anthony Stark. When I was six, I was abducted by the Assassins Guild and held for ransom. My father was searching for Captain America and my godfather enforced the company's no ransom policy. Instead of killing me, the leader of the Guild adopted me. The Assassins' rivals, the Thieves Guild had begun turning a stolen child, Remy, into an expert thief. Marius decided they'd do the same thing with me, turn a stolen child into an expert assassin, and if it didn't work out, they'd just kill me like they were going to anyway. After Remy and I completed our final rites of passage for our respective guilds, Marius decided to marry his daughter to Remy to unite the Guilds. Julien, his son, objected and in front of both Guilds' upper ranks, I told him I'd side with Remy if it came down to a duel. They already knew about my power so instead of risking me stealing all of their luck, which could very well be the same thing as destroying them, Marius and Remy's adoptive father banished us both. The rivalry continues to this day and if either Remy or I set foot in the Bayou, we'll be killed by the people we once called family. I haven't killed since my last rite of passage so I don't think I qualify as an assassin anymore. Chuck, I'm gonna need access to the lab to get something I left there for Wolverine."

"Of course. I would prefer if you didn't-"

"Call you Chuck, you got it Prof." Tony followed Charles out of the room and Remy helped move Logan to the infirmary, submitting to an exam alongside Rogue who passed on the warning not to touch her skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback welcome and encouraged. I can't believe how well this is coming along. I mean, sure, I had to rewrite this chapter a few times because I felt the characters kept appearing OOC and threatening the plot but I think it worked out.


	4. The Mentor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony takes John under his wing, a very awkward conversation ensues

After retrieving the Weapon X files, Tony found Remy flirting with Dr. Grey in the infirmary. “Sorry, I should’ve warned you about that. Remy will flirt with anyone who looks to be of legal age, nearly got arrested a few times from that alone.”

“Aren’t you two together?”

“We’ll be sharing a room while we’re here but we’re not, what’s the word, exclusive. If you’re done with Gambit, we need to move our bikes.”

Remy told him “Mistah Summers said he would help.”

“Before or after you flirted with his wife?”

Jean said “He’ll help if for no other reason than to get them out of the Blackbird, he loves the jet.”

“Okay.” Tony moved to stand by the unconscious man they brought with them, “Avoid needles with Wolverine, he’ll heal if you just leave him alone. Put these,” he hefted the papers he brought into the infirmary “On top of whatever clothes you’re gonna give him and make sure they’re in plain sight when he wakes up. Otherwise, leave him be. I’d almost recommend putting him in whatever guest room you’re gonna give him so he doesn’t wake up in a lab environment but I don’t see you finding that acceptable. Could you point me in Scott’s direction?”

Jean said “He’s probably still with the jet.”

“Then that’s where Remy and I are headed. Thanks.” Tony basically dragged Remy out of the room. In the hangar, he asked Scott “How are we going to get the bikes above ground so we can use them?” Scott showed the pair a maintenance access, which is how they got heavy machinery down to the base. Once the bikes were parked near Scott’s, the two travelers removed their things from the bikes and met up with Storm for a tour. Tony preemptively told her, “Fair warning, Remy will flirt with anyone who looks vaguely legal.”

“Good to know, do you two plan on sharing a room?”

“Yeah. Because flirting is all he’s gonna be doing while we’re at the school, right Remy?”

“But of course, mon porte bonheur.”

Translating for Storm, Tony said “He called me his Lucky Charm.” She made the guest room their first stop, allowing them to stow their things.

After the tour, Remy managed to get several students interested in a game of poker. Pulling a chair over and spinning it around to sit in it backwards, Tony flanked Remy and translated when the other man started talking in a confusing manner- the fast talker had a habit of randomly dropping French words into the mix. After the first game, Tony asked a blond haired boy “Wanna go outside and light up?”

“You smoke?”

“Never in my life but you keep fidgeting with that lighter and I guarantee you the Prof won’t care if you use it outside.”

“Okay.”

“What’s your name?”

“John.”

“And your mutant name?”

“Pyro. What about you?”

“I believe I am one of the oldest mutants not to have a mutant name. My power is called luck manipulation. I can drain, store and manipulate luck.”

“Seriously?”

“Remy calls me Lucky Charm, which is about as good as it gets codename-wise.”

“How do you manipulate luck?”

“I don’t know, I just do. If you really want an explanation then fair warning, it’s not going to be accurate. Okay?” John nodded. Tony said “Imagine good luck is white and bad luck is black. Most people have grey luck, very few have perfectly balanced good and bad but usually they have both. When I absorb luck, it’s instantly stored inside me. I can share that luck but I can’t control the effect that has, what the good luck I give is used for. When I come across murder scenes and, like, violent crimes then I try to give the cops on scene some good luck but for all I know, the good luck I gave Officer Stein will enable him to win the lottery not catch the bad guy. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah. It’s not complicated.”

“When you consider my powers don’t have a sensory element then it kind of is. That was just one way I can manipulate luck. Just as I can steal a person’s good luck, I can also change their luck without absorbing any of it. If we’re sticking with the colors metaphor then I can make the grey darker or I can take the white and keep them from regenerating it. This is going to sound weird but sometimes I take the black stuff instead of the white stuff, sometimes I absorb the bad luck so I can dispel it later. John, look at me and focus.” John’s attention had turned to his lighter but when asked, he turned to face Tony. “Everyone makes their own luck, alright. Positive people regenerate the white stuff faster than negative people. I know that I probably do the same thing everyone else does, that I generate my own good and bad luck but I can’t tap into my natural luck. I told you my power doesn’t have a sensory element so I don’t know if I am a naturally lucky or unlucky person. It’s like someone with water manipulation, 60% of the human body is water but someone with hydrokinesis can’t use that, they need an exterior source and they can’t feel themselves getting dehydrated anymore than you and I can. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“So what about you? How does your power work?”

John lit his lighter again, having snapped it closed when Tony told him to focus. He moved the flame into his free hand then pocketed the lighter “I can only manipulate fire, I can’t generate it.”

“Wait,” Tony saw him about to snuff the flames out, “Can you make it grow?” John did. “How is that not generating fire? Are you fireproof?”

“I guess so.”

“Then manipulating fire isn’t all you can do. You’re also fireproof, you need only a spark to create an inferno. John, let me tell you something, Remy and I can’t generate our power sources either. By the way, Remy’s an energy mutant but the energy has to come from somewhere. Now I’m gonna ask you something and I don’t want you to think about your answer, just tell me what you honestly think. Okay?” John nodded, the flame dancing along his arm. “Do you think the Professor’s gift is useful?”

“Yes.”

“I think the Professor might just have the strongest and weakest power of them all.”

“How do you figure?”

“His power doesn’t work if he’s alone. Telepathy enables him to manipulate the minds of others but without other people, without those minds, it’s useless.” John thought about it, nodding in agreement. Tony told him “Personally, I don’t believe any power is better than any other power, they all have their upsides and downsides. Take Magneto, he can manipulate magnetic fields, which are kind of a fundamental force but all you need is some strong plastic to imprison him. Cyclops is kind of obvious, his power has no off-switch but he can blast through walls, right? I could go on but you get the idea.”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think?”

“About?”

“Anything. Life, the variety of mutant powers you’ve seen, poker, the weather, Cyclops’ constantly constipated expression.” John chuckled at that suggestion. “Seriously, anything. I’m not a teacher. In fact, I never went to school. I was raised to be an assassin since I was six. My father, Marius Boudreaux, encouraged me even though everyone kept telling him he should kill me. His blood kids, Belladonna and Julien, tried to get me in trouble when we were about your age by outing me as gay. Marius told all three of us that it is good to have friends and maybe better when those friends come with benefits, which is a very nice way of saying he’s bi so what? I wasn’t born a Boudreaux, hence everyone telling my father I should be dead. I was abducted and then adopted instead of being assassinated. Family isn’t about bloodlines, it’s not about DNA or legal paperwork. Your family are the people who consistently care about you, who want the best for you even if they pursue that goal in strange and mildly disturbing or infuriating ways. Part of being a family may very well be resisting the strong urges to kill each other. If someone doesn’t show you consistent kindness, if they only seem to care about you when it benefits them, like when you’re on the edge of saying fuck this, then they’re not family. Since you didn’t come up with a topic, let’s talk about that.”

“I guess I agree. I don’t know.”

“What about any of the other topics I suggested? Life, poker, the weather, mutant powers, the stick up Cyclops’ ass that’s left him constipated?”

“Stop saying that,” said John through his own laughter.

“We can stay out here as long as you want. Charles won’t enforce curfew with me here.”

“How do you know the Professor?”

“I met him when I was four years old and he told me I had one of the strongest minds he had ever encountered.”

“When you were 4?”

“You can ask him. This was almost a decade before I manifested. Charles never invited me to the school, we kept in telepathic contact, had full conversations with him using Cerebro. We were talking one time- as a matter of fact, it was one of the rare times we were using a phone- and he was telling me about the school and he said to me: I would invite you to join me here but I am sure you would be miserable and I never want you to feel that way again. That stuck with me. John, if the school’s not a good fit then it’s not a good fit. Charles won’t make you stay if you truly do not like it here and he won’t send you back to a bad situation but consider what a family is. Family is about feeling, it’s emotional not quantifiable. Does that make sense?”

“How do you keep turning everything into a family thing?”

“Because it’s all I go, John. Fact is, it’s all everyone has.” Tony started singing softly

 _“So close, no matter how far_ _  
__Couldn't be much more from the heart_ _  
__Forever trusting who we are_ _  
__And nothing else matters_

 _Never opened myself this way_ _  
__Life is ours, we live it our way_ _  
__All these words, I don't just say_ _  
__And nothing else matters_

 _Trust I seek and I find in you_ _  
__Every day for us something new_  
 _Open mind for a different view_  
 _And nothing else matters…”_

“What is that?”

“It’s part of a song called Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. You’ll be kind of hard pressed to find a place where rock ‘n’ roll is the dominant genre, much less metal but I like it. I remember buying my first album, back before CDs.”

“Wow, you’re old.”

“I know. At least it was the age of cassettes not vinyl when I first heard that song. Do not bring up walkmans, please, I feel old enough.”

“You don’t look old.”

“Remy can do this thing where he transfers some of his energy, I am not having The Talk with you but that’s how he does it.” John’s face heated up. “Yeah. Apparently a side effect of his mutation is slowed aging. It’s like the energy has decided that the way he looks is the way he should look. Through exercise, he can sustain himself without eating his weight everyday but man does the guy have an appetite and oh my god, I’m going to stop talking. You want to just sit in silence, it’s getting late but like I said, Charles won’t bust you if you’re with me.” They fell into silence, John playing with fire for about half an hour before ultimately deciding to head inside. Tony waited five minutes before following to avoid further awkwardness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I was gonna have Tony use the chorus from SIXX AM's Life Is Beautiful but when I looked it up, I saw that song came out in 2007 and that won't work for what I wanted him singing to lead into. I am open to suggestions and I would love to hear what you guys think of Tony mentoring John. It's kind of a plot point in my tentative plan but it's really all about keeping him from joining the Dark Side, maybe shaping him into a leader for his own team of X-Men. Until next time


	5. The Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Re-working that scene in X-Men where Logan discovers Rogue's power first hand

Tony and Remy were settling into life at the school pretty well. Remy worked with some of the students on hand-to-hand combat, giving them a way to defend themselves without outing themselves as mutants, and had an open game of dime poker each night where students could learn the game for free but every hand after had a buy-in. Tony holed himself up in Hank’s old lab for most of the day. He had offered to show the teachers a few moves but flat out refused to work with any of the students, saying his training was more aggressive than Remy’s and he wasn’t sure he could rein himself in enough to train newbies. Ororo took him up on that offer on day one, pulling him out of the lab during her free period and showing him the gym where there were mats. “No powers,” Tony warned.

Ororo told him “You’ll see my eyes turn white if I start to use my power and you’ll know if I close my eyes to fight that I’m cheating.”

“Powers defeat the purpose of learning hand-to-hand. Dependence is a real problem, especially if your power is visible. Why do you think Remy wears shades?”

“Why?”

“Have you seen his eyes?”

“No. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s had his sunglasses on. I thought he might be like Scott.”

“No. His eyes are red on black and they glow when he uses his powers, hence shades. Ready to get started?” He had taken his jacket off to reveal a long sleeve shirt and chose a loose stance. “I want you to attack me. I’m gonna try to match your skill level but if I go too far above it, tap out.” They went at it, Tony gave her pointers the whole time until her phone went off. “What’s that?”

“I set a timer. My free period is over. Thanks for the lesson.”

Logan woke up during the first day they were there and holed up in his room after the tour to read through the files. When Jean showed him to his room, she told him “You’re right next door to Remy and Tony. Scott and I are down the hall.” After reading all about what was done to him, Logan expected nightmares.

Waking up to the sound of screams had the two former Guildsmen next door instantly on high alert. Seeing no immediate danger, Tony tapped Remy and they moved carefully to the neighboring room, unsure what to expect from the Wolverine. Finding the man asleep, Tony took up a guard post, leaning on the door while Remy went to wake the man, turning on the bedside lamp. Wolverine woke up swinging with claws out, only his extensive training and experience enabled Gambit to dodge.

Belatedly and feeling stupid for waiting, Tony hit the light switch beside him “Flashback from the files or good ole fashion nightmare?”

Logan answered “Both,” then he heard pounding on the door.

Tony asked “Ready to deal with concerned citizens or do you wanna hold off until a decent hour?”

“I’m not ready.”

Moving too quickly for anyone without similar training to bypass him, Tony told Scott “Get everyone to bed, there’s nothing to see.”

Scott may not move as fast as Tony but he can talk almost as fast “We heard screaming.”

“Yeah. Nobody’s hurt and even if somebody was, what are you gonna do about it? How about you do your job and get all the kiddies back in bed?” Thinking hard, Tony said _Charles, back me up._

Jean blinked “I heard that.”

“Heard what?” asked Scott.

“I asked Charles to back me up since you’re clearly not backing down. You hear pained screaming so you decide to come and antagonize the guy. I heard about your first official meeting. Back off before I make you. Picture this, Slim. I knock you out in three moves or less and then I go back in that room and leave Jean to take care of you and the kids. How do you think that’s gonna go, Cyke? Alternatively, you could do as I asked and help Jean settle the kids down while Remy and I do the same for Logan. If you had a nightmare, would you want Logan pushing his way into this room or this audience waiting to see what happens next? Be a big boy, Scotty.” Backing down with a sigh, Scott turned to Jean and followed her lead, thinking that she might be able to settle the kids better while Tony popped back in. “I’m sure you heard all of that, most of it was for you not him, after all.”

“Thanks,” said Logan.

“We’re drifters too, y’know. Remy and me, we can’t stay anywhere too long. We both have a list of enemies a mile long, some of them are personal enemies, others hate us for what we are- not just mutants but a LeBeau and a Boudreaux, even though we can’t call on our families for support. We know what it’s like. You gotta be nice to Scott though,” Tony held up his hands, “Relatively nice. Guy's got a more tragic backstory than I do and I grew up wondering each day if the people I called family might decide to finally kill me. Mind you, I was pretty sure my father wasn’t going to do it but the Boudreauxs are a family of assassins and I was adopted, some would say that means I’m not a real Boudreaux. Remy, show him your eyes.”

“I saw his eyes.”

Remy took off his glasses and charged them, letting Logan see how his eyes glowed, “They call me Le Diable Blanc, the white devil more than they ever call me Remy before I picked the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau then they respect me because a thief who can steal from a thief king deserves der respect.”

“I can’t tell you Scott’s story, only Charles or Scott can and I’m telling you right now neither of them will. Charles might corroborate what I said about him having a terrible past but Scott will pick a fight with you if you push him. Try not to antagonize him and I’ll have Charles tell him to do the same.”

“What do they call you?”

“Anton Boudreaux,” Tony bowed “At your service.” He straightened “Although I’m not sure if I’m allowed to use the Boudreaux name in exile so I ask most people to call me Tony.”

“No, I meant like Cyclops or Le Diable Blanc.”

“Nice pronunciation but Remy prefers Gambit and I don’t really have a codename.” He held up his hand “Remy calls me Lucky Charm, I don’t like it but I got nothing better. Cyclops is for Scott what Wolverine is for you, they’re codenames. Come down to the gym tomorrow, Remy and I will give you a workout. If you don’t know where it is, ask for directions in your mind, scream the question and Charles will give you directions. He is great at multitasking, using his power to communicate while doing something else. Do you want us to leave the lamp on? Are you ready for us to leave?”

“Yeah.”

“If you don’t want to sleep, you can go downstairs and watch TV. There’s no alcohol on school property, Charles is afraid students might steal it, his very first students got drunk within 12 hours of meeting each other so it’s an understandable fear. That leaves you with a glass of water or chocolate milk, or a bottle of warm soda for stuff to drink here. Tomorrow you can borrow one of our bikes to go into town to buy beer if you can get Charles to give you permission to bring it on school grounds. Don’t let his cool demeanour fool you, he can be vindictive and if he’s still afraid of underage drinking then he might make you drop your beers from a great height, which is not the worst case scenario here.”

“Okay, okay. See you both tomorrow.” Remy was almost to the door when Logan said “Wait.” The pair looked at him. “When Jean said you’re right next door-”

“We’re sharing a room, we do that a lot. I first met Charles when I was 4 so sleeping is all I’m comfortable doing in the telepath’s house but we are a couple, we’re just not exclusive. Does that answer your question?”

“More than answers it.”

“I am the most open and honest killer you’ll ever meet so trust me when I say, I don’t kill anymore. Haven’t since I was exiled, I was taught a code and if nothing else, that code hasn’t allowed me to kill since then.”

“Okay. You should get going, enjoy your night.”

“We don’t have to be up early. We can stay if you want, I’m sure I can manage to give you something nice to think about before you attempt to sleep again. Or Remy could go get his bo staff and we could see how much it takes to knock you out.”

“I don’t need both of you.”

“Remy, beat it before you start flirting with him and piss Scott off again.” Logan stifled a laugh while Remy just shrugged and left. “How sensitive is your hearing?”

“I can hear for miles usually.”

“Okay.”

“Why?”

“I was going to play some music but just like how Remy left his bo staff in our room, I left my tech.”

“You are one weird assassin.”

“To be fair, I was a boy genius before I became an assassin. Do you have any idea what a circuit board is?”

“Somethin’ to do with computers.”

“It’s a very delicate part of a computer and I made one when I was four. My birth dad decided to show me off at parties, which is how I met Charles. I manifested when I was thirteen and by the time I was fifteen, Charles had told me the reason he never invited me to the school was because he knew I would be miserable. I’m starting to suspect that has something to do with Scott. Unless I missed my guess, he and I are only a few years apart which means he might have been enrolled here about the time Charles said that. Prof’s kind, not blind.”

“What can you tell me about him?”

“Well, not much. Remy and I have helped what you might call at-risk kids find their way here and we’ve done some freelance work, like getting those files from the Weapon X facility, but I don’t really know anyone here. We usually keep our distance, if you know what I mean. Scott probably doesn’t even remember it but he blew up on me once when he was a student, he was angry and I’m not exactly a calming influence. I know things about him but I respect the Prof too much to violate his trust, Chuck’s not Scott’s, by telling. You’ll really have to talk to the Professor if you want to get a bead on the X-Men. Tomorrow, you, me, and Remy are gonna spar. Try to get some sleep. Think you can do that?”

“Yeah.”

Tony retreated back to his own room where Remy was doing card tricks to amuse himself “Don’t waste your good luck, love.” They got back in bed for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback welcome and encouraged


	6. The Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony isn't 100% okay in the head but he's not crazy, sometimes he just needs to be away from people, to be antisocial for everyone's sake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you can't tell from the summary, this one gets a little bit dark but I don't think it's any worse than the rest of the story, to be honest. This chapter fought me because it kept getting super dark and I'm not ready for the story to get that dark so enjoy the short chapter I finally wrangled my muse to get

Tony logged a few more hours of sleep after Logan’s nightmare but still woke up before the sun. Throwing his jacket on, he zipped it up without bothering to put a shirt on and slipped silently out to go for a ride. He rode around the deserted Westchester country streets before going into town to refill his gas tank, thinking about taking another ride that night to do the same for Remy’s bike. While he was out, he bought as much Gatorade as he could fit into his saddlebags before returning and getting a marker to label them with his name, trusting Charles to enforce ownership rules in the fridge. When he finished, he realized it was late enough in the day for the telepath to presumably be up and mentally projected a few trivial questions, not wanting to deal with people yet. Charles always respected his desire to be antisocial when he was at the mansion even though he could imagine he was annoyingly inconvenient. Making some eggs and grabbing one of his Gatorades, he went down to the gym to eat in peace.

Even Remy knew better than to taunt him on days like this. To an outsider, seeing how serious they both were on these days compared to their normal laidback mouthy attitude would probably be disturbing. They went at each other for a bit before Logan showed up and Remy did all the talking for them, explaining how they wanted to gage his skills in the martial arts and how Remy was going to draw on his vast repertoire of foreign languages to test his fluency. The more languages he was fluent in and martial arts forms he had mastered, the older he likely was. In almost no time at all, Remy had to bow out of the physical fight and fall back to ref while engaging Logan in conversation. When Tony was silent, he exercised much less restraint as far as pulling his punches went but he also leashed his power more tightly.

John tried to engage him at dinner and Tony just asked “Wanna go outside to talk? I’ll listen but I don’t really feel like talking today.”

“Uh, sure. Can I ask why you want to go outside?”

“When I was a kid, it was the only way to keep my conversations from being listened in on.” He listened to Pyro vent, occasionally contributing a bit of advice but otherwise just listening in total silence. The younger mutant played with his powers the whole time and Tony watched the flames not the boy.

As the night wound down, Pyro asked “Is there a reason you’re not talking much today?”

“Kid assassin here, silence was truly golden when I was a kid and sometimes, I guess I miss it, miss the simplicity that comes with fading into the woodwork. I’m probably not 100% right in the head or even 70% right in the head, if sanity is a percentage I might even be in the teens for all I know. How you feel is always important but when I was growing up, I got sent mixed messages. My pa told me he would always be there for me if I needed someone but all the other adults in my life made me believe talking like that would convince him I’d outlived my usefulness, would convince him it was time to get rid of me for real. I was 15 when pa and I had a heart-to-heart where I learned that what he said was true and what they said was BS. They’re called formative years for a reason.”

“That’s-”

“More than I’ve said all day but it’s alright, actually it’s probably good that I don’t go whole days in total silence. If you need me while I’m here, I’ll be here for you. I know it might be awkward but if Logan bails after Remy and I leave, Charles is your next best bet for an adult to talk to who is here. He can make a pretty good guess as to what I’d say, if not how I’d say it. What is tomorrow?”

“Uh-” Pyro realized he didn’t actually know off the top of his head.

“Weekday, I mean, do you have class tomorrow?”

“No, I do not, I think it’s Saturday.”

“The days are already blurring for you, that is-”

“No, they’re not. I thought you were asking for the date.”

“Oh. Okay. Tomorrow, I’ll take you into town then.”

“Why?”

“We’ll figure something out. If nothing else, we can find an abandoned parking lot and you can try to drive my bike but at the very least, we should get you a motorcycle helmet.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

“You’re okay being-”

“Away with you? Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. Are you on any medication?”

“No, I’m not. Why?”

“If you’re going to be alone with someone, you need to be able to tell doctors what medication they’re on in case you have to take them to the hospital.”

“Aren’t you on some wanted list?”

“Several but I was six when I mastered the art of looking inconspicuous and not arousing suspicion. Ready to head in?”

“Sure. Just one question, why do you really want to take me into the city tomorrow?”

“Never leaving this place isn’t exactly good for your mental health. If you can feel lonely in a crowd then you can be isolated in a boarding school. I need to get away without being totally alone so I can recover from whatever made today a quiet day and Remy likes teaching you kids self-defense so I’ll have to make do with you.”

“Okay.”

Instead of going to bed in his and Remy’s room, Tony stayed up working on Cerebro then putting a few new pieces of tech together in the lab before catching a couple hours of shut eye in the infirmary, just isolating himself before he had to deal with people the next day. While he was out with John, Mystique impersonated him to tell Rogue she needed to run, that “Charles isn’t who I thought he was, it’s not safe for you here, you need to get out while you can.” Then the shapeshifter went down to sabotage Cerebro, the genius assassin’s upgrades foiled her plan and Remy nearly caught her but Rogue still bailed on the school.

Charles sensed Tony was already in the city and dispatched him to Grand Central Station while Remy and Scott got ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback more than welcome. I enjoyed hearing berryblu's opinion on Chapter 4, once I engaged blu in a short convo, but I'd love to hear more opinions. This chapter sorta ended on a cliffhanger, sorry but Liberty Island is the movie's climax and Grand Central is the last part of the build up so I feel I must give it its own chapter, maybe two. Lemme know what you think


	7. The Abduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rogue is taken, a plan to rescue her is made and Remy reveals a bit of his past to the Professor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if Remy's speech is a little OOC and inconsistent. The guy doesn't use proper grammar and spell check keeps flagging him for it.  
> I tried to keep the French simple and just now realized I haven't included translations. Oops. I'll put them here then put them in the first chapter too. Let me know if I missed any
> 
> Oui - yes  
> Non - no  
> Cher - dear (masculine but I've seen it used for both genders)  
> Chere - dear (feminine, not even sure it made the cut with the monster Chapter 6 was to write)  
> Mon ami - my friend (I've seen it used sarcastically, mighta used it that way myself)  
> Mon amour - my love

While they were out, Tony managed to more or less teach John to ride a motorcycle. When they arrived at the train station, he gave John his keys, telling him “Wait for Charles to contact you. If he tells you to give Scott the keys then do it. Okay? I’m trusting you here.”

“Okay.”

“Good.” Tony ran off to find somewhere he could keep an eye out for Magneto unseen. He watched Remy and Scott run inside after John rode his bike a short distance to their car, parking beside it. He also saw Sabretooth stalk past, silently cursing himself even as he backtracked the feral mutant’s steps to find the Brotherhood transport so he could stowaway.

Inside the station, Remy looked at the list of departing trains and deduced which one Rogue was going to board, he told Scott to hang back lest he spook her while racing to the platform. He slips into the seat next to her “What is wrong, chere?”

“Tony told me to run so I am.”

“When did Lucky Charm tell you this?”

“Today.”

“Impossible. Tony left before the sun this morning.”

“What? Then-”

Before she could finish that thought, Magneto boarded the train with Sabretooth and Remy saw red, enabling Magneto to snatch the defenseless Rogue. In the station itself, there was pandemonium as Scott’s glasses were taken, thankfully while he was looking up, and part of the roof was destroyed as a result before Toad knocked him out with a body slam and fell into step beside his boss when Magneto came back, dragging Sabretooth along by his dog tags.

Gambit recovered before Cyclops did and got outside just in time to see the police let Magneto leave. He ran back inside and slipped Cyclops’ glasses back on before hustling him out, his own glasses securely in place. John asked “Where’s Tony?”

Remy said “We not see Lucky Charm inside, he must have a plan of his own.”

Back at the mansion, while Cyclops was still unconscious, Remy raced into the War Room just as the Professor was about to leave to use Cerebro “That won’t be necessary, mon ami. Lucky Charm is a genius.”

“What?” asked Logan, Remy was waving some strange device in the air.

“Lucky Charm has a tracking device in his jacket, which Remy forgot was made of plastic so it won’t hurt if it breaks.”

“Because it’s plastic, Magneto can’t manipulate it-”

“Or sense it. Lucky Charm on the move, prob’ly a stowaway.”

Scott joined them silently once he woke up. Storm asked “What do you suggest?”

“Remy only need someone to fly da jet then Remy can get Rogue and Lucky Charm.”

Scott scoffed “You think you can take on the whole Brotherhood?”

“Remy loaded wit’ luck.”

“Really? So what happened at the train station? You just chose to let Rogue go?”

Before Jean could tell him to be nice, Remy pulled his glasses off and sighed, admitting “Remy did lose control when he saw Sabretooth again.”

“So you’re still sore about the fight on the road?”

“Non, Remy was pissed both times because Sabretooth killed Etienne, Remy’s cousin and best friend ‘fore Anton. Remy prob’ly lose control again but won’t let Rogue get hurt. Gambit can wait for his rematch to take down de others.”

Scott opened his mouth but Charles interrupted “Mr. LeBeau, would you please open your mind to me?”

“Sure thing.” Gambit had to sit down and consciously take down a few of his mental shields before Charles assured him it was enough.

Seeing his memory of his cousin’s death, Charles smiled sadly “Thank you, Mr. LeBeau.” Much faster than they came down, Remy’s shields were restored, which fascinated Charles slightly.

Speaking with almost blunt honesty, the Cajun asked “Can Remy go or will da X-Men ditch him if Remy not here?” Charles suggested he monitor Senator Kelly while he calmed down and Remy nodded mutely, giving the Professor the receiver for Tony’s tracer.

Scott accused “You’re not actually considering sending Remy in without the rest of us, are you?”

“Yes, I am Scott. Remy and Tony have a long history of keeping each other in check. I have no doubt that Mr. LeBeau will leave Mr. Creed alive.”

“That’s not what I was asking about, Professor.”

“You believe that Mr. LeBeau will need you to provide back up but the truth is that you would feel utterly useless and may possibly prove to be a hindrance were you to accompany him, which is why I believe Jean would be the best fit to go with Mr. LeBeau. The only things Remy and Tony may need assistance with are flying the jet and rendering aid of a medical nature.” Charles preemptively cut him off “I am not asking you to be happy with this arrangement but I am asking you to trust me and trust Jean.”

“Why do you trust Remy so much?”

“Remy and Tony may have been raised as a thief and assassin respectively but they were also raised with honor codes and they have done great work for this team and this school. I trust them because I have been given no reason not to, both men are openly honest about what they are and what they have done. Perhaps you should be asking yourself what reason you have to mistrust the pair of them and Logan.” Charles swallowed “More to the point, I have known Tony since he was four years old, years before you were even born.”

“Really?”

“The nature of Remy’s energy mutation combined with rituals their respective Guilds have been performing for centuries has greatly extended their lifespans and slowed their aging to a standstill. I would even go so far as to speculate that their fathers still appear to be the same age they did when the boys were adopted. It is entirely possible, even likely that their physical aging has been frozen. Due to their exile, Remy and Tony have been cut off from the life extending ritual, which is where the former’s mutation comes into play.” Charles realized he was lecturing and wrapped things up “The simple truth is that Remy and Tony will likely look the same as they do, if a few years older, when you are my age. In the time I have known them, neither has given me any reason to mistrust them.” His lips quirked “Remy may flirt but he refuses to advance any further on school property, as a sign of respect. They were raised to value respect and honor above all else. You have nothing to fear from Remy being left unsupervised, Scott.”

“He’s been teaching the students to hustle at poker.”

“And were I to express concern, he would stop.”

Logan cut in “Tony told me to be nice to Slim, wouldn’t tell me why except he thought Scott had a worse life than he did.” The receiver beeped and Charles looked down, “What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure.”

Remy came back, reporting “The Senator turned to water, right in front of Remy.”

“Is there a reason this receiver might beep?” asked Charles.

“Uh, let Remy see.” He fiddled with the receiver before concluding “They musta stopped. Remy need a map.” One was provided and Remy used the data from the receiver to figure out where they were “The receiver beep when Lucky Charm turn the tracker off.”

Charles nodded, “Jean will accompany you to the island.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback welcome. Next stop, the island
> 
> I have made plans to merge the Avengers-verse (AKA the MCU) with the X-Men movies. I am warning you now that this is going to get dark but I have plans (more like hope) for an eventual happy ending. Comment/Kudo/Bookmark, get those counters up for me


	8. The Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at what a pissed off Gambit on a mission is capable of. Also, the Cajun shares something personal with his doctor

Despite Scott’s objections, Remy and Jean flew to Liberty Island alone. “What’s the deal with you and Tony? Sorry-”

“The Thieves Guild and the Assassins Guild were at war for centuries. My father Jean-Luc and Tony’s father Marius decided to arrange for me to marry Tony’s sister Belladonna. Everyone who was anyone in the Guilds attended the wedding and saw my love’s brother Julien challenge me to a duel. Rather than let us kill each other, Tony loudly announced he would sooner support me than Julien in the duel. Everyone knew what his mutation was, with good reason that I don’t feel comfortable sharing. The way we were raised, Tony almost could’ve been killed for that disloyalty. I returned the sentiment, saying I wouldn’t let nothing happen to him. Our fathers each lost a son that day, our exile was a compromise and I’ve kept my word for about 40 years, got no intention of breaking it now.” Were Tony there, he would’ve teased Remy for not talking like himself, using mostly proper grammar and suppressing his accent. “Tony drive me nuts sometimes but he all I got. Can’t go home ‘less my exile is lifted and I won’t go ‘til his is too. They used to say that I was destined to unite the Guilds, that my eyes made me a child of prophecy but they didn’t hesitate much when Julien made his challenge, didn’t hesitate to follow us out to see the fight or exile us when Tony and I said we’d back each other. Tony says Belladonna always gets what she wants, be it an innocent boy dead or a new dress. Makes me wonder if it was Julien or Belladonna who didn’t want the wedding to work out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Was before your time. Tony and I been through Hell and back several times. Ain’t no connard in cape gon’ stop us.”

“Connard?”

“Yeah, bet you can guess what Remy means.”

“I can.”

The rest of the flight passed in silence, Jean asked “Did you bring your staff?”

“Course, gon’ be good for figurin’ out when we close.”

“Alright.”

As they passed through the gift shop, Remy withdrew his staff and in one quick motion, exposed Mystique who had taken the form of a miniature Statue of Liberty. The hit on her head knocked her out and made her fall off the pedestal. Remy kept moving, collapsing his staff and pulling out a deck of cards to deftly withdraw a few. Charging them with the barest touch, he threw them in Toad’s direction, causing him to similarly fall before he could get the drop on them. He switched back to his staff, pocketing the cards, and gave Toad’s head a solid hit just to be safe before leading Jean up the stairs. Not wanting Rogue to get hurt, he moved quickly up the stairs while keeping a hold on his staff to feel for the tug of Magneto’s power. When he felt it, he let go of the staff with a muttered, “Showtime.” In one smooth move, he swung over the last of the railing, grabbed a few more cards to charge and throw in quick succession. Magneto drew back from the unexpected assault and Remy got close enough to knock him out before drawing back himself to retrieve his staff from where the metal bender had made it stick to the wall. Spinning the staff around to make sure the balance was unchanged, he took his glasses off to reveal his ‘Devil Eyes’. Staring at Sabretooth with a cold expression, he surprised himself by taking down the feral mutant with the same ease as he had the rest of the Brotherhood, overwhelming his healing power by throwing five charged playing cards at him and using the staff to control the way he fell.

* * *

Stowing away on Magneto’s transport was much easier said than done. Tony had to use his power more than he was comfortable with to evade detection, boosting his luck and draining the Brotherhood’s so they would have no chance of finding him. He knew Rogue was scared but he had to remain immobile to have any chance of going unseen, there was nothing he could do. After he got the Professor’s call, he had started passively drawing luck, taking just a tiny bit from everyone around him. By all rights, he should’ve been all but invincible with all the luck he held. However, Tony had learned the hard way not to let his power make him arrogant. He didn’t move, didn’t let even Rogue know he was there, he was frozen from the moment he turned on his tracer until Magneto was ready to move the torch. He made himself as small as possible to hide in the twisted replica of the iconic symbol. When Magneto was otherwise occupied with his lackeys, he moved to the crown to avoid arousing suspicion while Magneto hooked up his machine. He couldn’t drain the other mutants’ luck entirely without arousing a dangerous amount of suspicion that would be directed at Rogue, assuming the bad luck didn’t cause them to kill her on accident. From his vantage point, he watched and waited. _Lucky for me,_ he thought ruefully, _I’m coming off a quiet day, my desire to talk or make a sound is still nearly non-existent. Still doesn’t do jack for the cold at this height._

When Magneto left his machine alone, he moved with the speed and agility expected of a lucky master assassin. Getting back inside the fake torch, he grabbed Rogue’s chin with a gloved hand and held her mouth shut while stealing his business card back and showing her the messy scrawl as a means of identifying himself. Transferring a little luck to her, he got the cuffs off and helped her into the tourist portion of the Statue.

Finding Gambit standing over an unconscious Sabretooth, bo staff charged and poised to blast the blond, Tony shouted “Don’t!” Remy hesitated and Tony said “Look at me, LeBeau.”

Tearing his eyes away from his enemy, Gambit said “Give me one good reason, Boudreaux.”

“It’s dishonorable and I won’t let you. Look at where I’m standing, you know what happens when our powers cross. Is my life worth his to you?” With a heavy sigh, Remy collapsed the staff and grabbed his glasses, charging them then throwing them down angrily.

Aboard the jet, Rogue asked “What happens if your powers cross?”

“Depends on the cross. If I try to block his power with mine, it’s like feedback, his energy turns against me and I get thrown. If I combine my power with his, it’s like a supercharge, the energy doubles and things tend to get blown up, never a good idea when the thing he’s charging is in his hands. That’s why I split my luck with Remy before we head out, then my power is within him and neither one of us is likely to wind up handcuffed to a hospital bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X-Men is almost over, just gotta do the wrap up and lead-in to the next movie. Avengers will follow X-2, I'm debating having Justin Hammer become Justin Stark AKA Iron Man for that. Tell me what you think


	9. The Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott realizes he met Tony as a student, it's not a particularly nice memory.

After they arrived back at the mansion, Tony found the Professor “Everything went pretty well. I was just getting Rogue to safety when we caught Remy about to kill Creed, I got him to stop and told Rogue on the flight back what happens when our powers cross. Other than that, no issues beyond the one we went in to solve.”

“Thank you for the report.”

“I’m gonna head to bed.” He saw Cyclops, “Uh, actually. You follow me, I found something in the lab while I was- just follow me. You’ll want to see it.” With a nod of encouragement from Charles, Scott did as Tony asked. He realized, as he watched Tony punch in his access code, that he had never been in the lab as far as he could remember. Tony showed him to a short two drawer filing cabinet and crouched down to open it. Flipping through, he said “I wish there was more. I wish we could’ve filled a cabinet twice this one’s size with files. As it stands, Remy and I spent weeks scavenging through the wreckage of a Weapon X facility and we couldn’t even get enough to fill this one. When we called Charles to send the jet to us, we brought everything we found. Beast, I mean, Dr. McCoy gave himself the job of going through what we found, transcribing some of the pages for legibility and throwing out what was unsavable. Some files had no usable parts but he managed to make out the names on them and wrote them on new file folders. Back then, he said it was in case we ever recovered back ups.”

“What does this-”

“Here we are.” Tony found the file he was looking for, having stopped for a minute as he spoke, recalling what happened all those years ago and knowing he wouldn’t be able to fully split his focus. Taking the file, he closed the cabinet and led Scott to another. This time, he just pulled out a box before giving Scott both items. “Charles and I agree that adults should have access to their Weapon X file, assuming they survived the program. For those who did not, we agreed to try to give their families closure. Unfortunately both survivors and surviving relatives are insanely hard to find. From getting Logan’s file, I was able to see that Charles had failed to share your file with you. After having so much trouble tracking others down to give them their file or give it to their next of kin, he probably shifted his focus and forgot about the files he could hand over. I can tell you that this lab hasn’t seen much use since McCoy left and since the files are stored here, it’s not crazy to assume they’ve been equally untouched, if forgotten.”

“Thanks.”

“Jean might want to have a look at that file. You’re an adult now, it’s up to you who does or does not see it. Read it before making that decision.” Tony seemed momentarily dazed, like the world around them had faded away before returning just as suddenly, “Uh, keep in mind, Remy and I dug that out of a destroyed base, it’s possible that we didn’t get all of it and knowing Beast, it’s possible some of the files got mixed together. Let me know if you have pages from another, I’ll be able to check their file for pages from yours if any of theirs was salvaged. You could also ask the Professor if you don’t get through the file while I’m here. There’s no rush, the file’s not going anywhere. I doubt Logan will even take his when he leaves.”

Scott asked “Why did you tell Logan to be nice to me? Was it because of this?” He lifted the file, taking the box in his other hand and holding it at his side.

“Open the box.” Scott did and saw goggles. “Remember me now?”

He started to say something when Scott remembered. He was still new to his powers when someone knocked into him, his glasses fell off and before he could close his eyes, he had blasted someone through three walls. He was freaking out because he thought he killed the guy and even when the glasses were pressed into his hand, he refused to put them out, didn’t want to be able to open his eyes, to see what he’d done. Then Tony came over to him, put a hand on his shoulder and took the glasses from him, shoving them on his face and demanding the teenage Cyclops look at him. Somehow, he could tell when his order was obeyed, even though he had turned Scott’s head towards him. Tony then pointed to the walls and told him that he was going to fix his mess before sauntering off, suppressing a wince. “How-?”

“Not sure if Charles already covered this but Remy and I don’t age much. I might look just like this when you’re his age, I might be dead before then, who knows?” Tony sighed “I don’t mean to guilt trip you or anything, sorry if that happened anyway. You asked why I told Logan to be nice to you. Truth is, knowing you were both in Weapon X might be part of the reason but I also knew you when you were a student. You blew up on me once after you blew me through three walls because I was freaking you out by shrugging it off as an accident. You probably don’t remember that but you wound up oversharing a bit of your past. Charles found me afterwards and we agreed that you probably didn’t mean to do that and I shouldn’t hold it against you, should just pretend it never happened unless you decide to talk about it. I’m telling you that because you’re an adult now. If you were still a student, I would do what I did then and pretend I didn’t hear any of it. Now, you can stay in here but fair warning, the door auto-locks from the outside so once you leave, you’ll be stuck until you can get Charles or me to open the door. I really need to shower and sleep.”

The next day, Tony slept in and only woke up around lunchtime, he hadn’t slept much the night before and he used enough of his power to stay undetected that he couldn’t rely on that to make up for his bad sleeping habits. When he joined the other adults at the school for lunch, Scott asked “Why did you shrug it off when I blasted you through three walls? How did you do that?”

“You just realized that getting blasted through a wall or three hurts, even if you’ve got luck on your side?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Tony raised a hand to silence the other man before he started rambling “After I helped calm you down, Hank took me to the infirmary for X-Rays. We had to wrap my ribs, which is never fun, but I had drained my reserves minimizing the damage so,” he shrugged. “My worst injury was some internal bruising. Other than that, I had some lacerations and a lot of external bruising from the walls breaking against me but nothing too serious. Sleep on my side, keep my torso wrapped, generous use of some salve, none of it was do or die.”

“You just shrug it off.”

“I’ve done worse and I can’t say it was an accident.” Tony told Scott “You need to understand that to me, that’s nothing. It’s my sister throwing one of her tantrums. I get that you feel guilty for not closing your eyes in time, I mean I know you do even if I don’t understand it. You were new to your powers, you hadn’t even begun training with them, it was a textbook accident. Had you hit almost anyone else then we’d be talking about manslaughter not destruction of property and assault, the former is a felony while the latter two are misdemeanors.”

“Are you really saying I was lucky?”

“Personally, I try to avoid using that particular word like the plague but yeah. Scott, I’m fine. You didn’t do any lasting damage, you hurt the walls more than me.” His skin paled slightly before he said “I guess you were lucky you didn’t blast me through any support beams.” Color returning in an instant, he told the thief sitting beside him “Don’t even start. You used him for demos in all your classes after I made the goggles.”

“Wasn’t going to start, cher.”

“Oh,” said Scott.

“You forgot that too,” Tony said “Long term memory is a funny thing. Repetition and value, those two things determine what sticks with us.”

“What?”

“We remember things that happen a lot or have a lot of value, for the most part. When something is really bad, or in other words has a lot of negative value, then we might block it out. You forgot mine and Remy’s visit because in the grand scheme, it wasn’t important enough to remember and what happened while we were here wasn’t common enough to burn into your memory. On some level, you must agree that it was no big deal.” Tony sat back “In case you hadn’t noticed, Scotty, I’m chill about a lot of things that stress you out. I’m a laid back kinda guy, it’s in my nature.” Tony stretched his arms over his head then scooped up his plate and Gatorade to go elsewhere before Scott could start up again. He stopped next to the younger man, “If it wasn’t an accident, you wouldn’t be teaching today, would you? You wouldn’t have stuck around to finish the semester, forget high school itself.” With that, he left the room.

Feeling awkward just sitting there, Remy entertained himself with a series of increasingly impressive and borderline impossible. When he was done eating, he critiqued “Works better with a full deck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remy's using the same deck he had the previous night, which is missing eleven or so cards.
> 
> Please comment/kudo/bookmark


	10. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before getting ready to leave, Remy and Tony meet with Charles to see if he needs their help on anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrapping up X-Men, just one more chapter to go. To be honest, this was going to be the last chapter but the end of this chapter proved to be super long so I figured I'd post it as a separate one.

Later that day found Tony and Remy sitting across from Charles in his office “We’ll go to DC, steal Kelly’s list and keep an eye on Stryker.”

“I would be very grateful if you could track down William’s son Jason.”

“I assume Jason is a mutant and you won’t mind too much if William himself vanishes.”

“I cannot condone murder.”

“Good because I don’t much like killing anymore but if we put word out about what the Colonel’s done, someone else might put out a contract that might get filled by an old associate of mine. I ain’t promising anything but I am asking if you want this all kept quiet.”

“Be careful who you tell.”

“Right-o.” Tony turned to Remy, “The old associate I was thinking of is Deadpool, could you contact him directly with the contract?”

“Last Ah heard, Deadpool tryin’ ta reform.”

“Great, maybe put him on Jason’s trail and give him the Prof’s card. Might be better to use the law against Stryker anyway, make an example of him.”

Charles cut in “If you don’t mind my asking, how would you do that?”

“You’re just the only person Remy and I do free work for but you’re not our only repeat customer, we have our own influence. Although, to be honest, I was just gonna ask Scott and Logan if I could take a copy of their Weapon X files to show some movers and shakers in DC. Maybe you could give them to Hank to show the President the precedent that has been set for mutants and warn him away from Stryker in one go.”

“Perhaps.”

“If you do then we won’t have to watch him. Bit of a risk anyway. Guy’s been messing with mutants for decades, he’s probably got one of his brainwashed weapons with him at all times. Remy and I can blend but we’re not Mystique, we’ll be noticed eventually.”

“I understand.”

“Is there something else we can do for you?”

“For someone who doesn’t work for free much, you certainly offer quite a lot.”

“We do free work for you and free for us means expenses paid, you let us charge things to the school when we stay here. It’s not totally free but we’re not charging a commission. Plus if either of us have any children, you’ll probably know before we do.” Charles stifled a laugh behind a smile. Tony said “Seriously, though, good idea to have a target. Chances are Kelly was pulling a McCarthy.”

“I will call Hank today. Surely you two can stay a few more days.”

“Two, three tops.” Tony again turned to Remy “Don’t start. I’m worried about ol’ eagle eye, best get a move on before he tries to leverage this place. Don’t forget our deal. You gotta-”

“Do the chores for the rest of the year. Remy knows.” The Cajun stood up and Tony held out their credit card for him to take.

As usual, Charles had given one of them a card in the school’s name to share for the duration of their visit, for expenses he always said. Part of the reason they never charged him for their work was how much he let them stretch the word expenses. They could use almost anything on school property and were still allowed to go out and buy other things. Sometimes when they took it upon themselves to mentor students, they charged recreational activities to the cards. The first few times it’d happened Charles himself had justified the expense when they later attempted to apologize and offered to work off the difference. During their visit this time, Tony had taken John to get a music player. He had also used the lab a lot and put gas in his bike twice, which is a lot for ramblers like them who spend their lives rationing.

As he took the card, Remy grumbled but he couldn’t deny the joy of not having to worry about funds. In the basement lab, Tony had made his telescoping bo-staff and reinforced his long coat so he didn’t have to worry about losing his things when the pair occasionally got blown up. The Cajun left to get started on the chores he had to do before they were on their own again, namely laundry. Tony stopped him at the door “Y’know what, I got maintenance. That’s technically a chore, I’ll do it tonight after curfew.”

“You just don’ like how Remy do it.”

“Considering Remy has managed to disable vehicles Remy aims to quickly repair, Remy would be right.”

“O’ course. Stop mocking Remy.”

“Of course.” Tony stepped back and Remy glared at him, “I was going to trade keys but thought better of it. You still have all of your stuff. Just a reminder, I’m going to have to make you new glasses. Blowing the last pair up didn’t rid you of your need for them.”

“Remy knows.” With that, Remy left.

Tony turned back to Charles “Two or three days. If you need me, I’ll be down in the lab, giving John access codes so he can help track who still hasn’t gotten their Weapon X file.” Charles nodded his acknowledgement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback encouraged


	11. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a talk with John in the lab, it gets awkward but a lot of things are cleared up

John caught Tony after the meeting before the luck mutant could even start searching for him, “You heading out?”

“Soon. Got work to do.”

“Any chance you’ll come back?”

“Probably.” Tony told him “If you think about everything I’ve told you about myself then you might be able to guess who I was before I was adopted. I never went to school because I was born into a prominent family, pa didn’t want anyone tryin’ ta take me back to ‘em. That’s your last clue, I was well known as was my family. I want you to work on that, if you can solve the riddle while I’m here then I’ll give you a real job but you cannot ask for help, some people already know who I was.”

“As do I. You were Tony Stark, you told me before the Professor called you to Grand Central.”

“Oh, right. What do you know about Justin Stark?”

“Not much, I looked him up after you told me though. Howard adopted him a few years after your ‘death’ and made him the new heir instead of trying for another blood son. Justin’s just like him as far as the press seems to care, his adoption has been all but forgotten, reporters write like he is Howard’s blood son.”

“It’s possible he is. Howard was a playboy back in the day. I’m gonna tell you something you cannot repeat,” they were just boarding the elevator, having stopped a few times during their talk.

“Okay.”

“You can’t tell anyone this, not even the people involved in what I’m going to tell you.”

“Got it.”

“I think Rogue might be Remy’s daughter.”

“What?”

“Similar powers, looks, accents- the last one’s just ironic since accents are learned.”

“I was wondering why you and Remy sound so different.”

“Oh, uh, I could adopt a Cajun accent just as easily as he could drop his, we choose not to.” Tony led him off the elevator “And part of the reason you can’t tell them is because there is a good chance, all three things are just ironic. Not everyone with probability manipulation is related.”

“Probability manipulation, is that what you have?”

“A form of it, yes. Your powers could be classed as elemental while mine could be considered probability manipulation.” Stopping outside the lab, he told John “I’m going to give you access to this place so you can help Charles with a project he’s almost forgotten about but I really need to trust you for this to work.”

“You can trust me.”

“Notice how I’m not giving Scott this project.”

“Yeah.”

“This will test your self-control but first thing’s first, let’s get inside so I can get you an access code.” Going inside, he sat down at a computer and began working, “What’s your usual access code for the Danger Room?” John gave it and Tony altered it slightly, writing down the new code on some stationary Hank left next to the computer. “Here, this is your code for this room and Cerebro.”

“Cerebro?”

“Yeah, eventually, I’ll teach you how that machine works so you can do repairs. If you’re a quick study, I’ll teach you next time I’m here. In the meantime, you see another student going into sensory overload, that’s when people with super senses get overwhelmed by those senses, then you need to quickly and quietly take them down to Cerebro. The mutant finder doubles as a sensory deprivation chamber, the perfect treatment for overload. I’ll let Charles know I gave you access, he might send you to accompany a student in overload down there. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“That is not the project I told you about, it’s just easier to put you in both systems at the same time.”

“Okay.”

Tony led him to the short filing cabinet and pulled out a random file “Each of these files is marked with a name, some have the mutant name listed as well. You should not need to open the files to find the person they belong to. Adult survivors of the Weapon X program are supposed to get the remains of their file. By now, all survivors are adults. If someone died in the program, their file is offered to the family. In either case, they need to come here to get them so that someone can talk to them. These files are extremely valuable to some very dangerous people, such as the surviving staff from the program. With some of these, they could pick up where they left off. I am trusting you to track what files we have here that have never gone to either the mutant listed or their families. Some of these files will stay here forever, some dead mutants were disowned by their families and thus their files have nowhere to go. You’ll be helping Charles track down the rest and he might teach you how to make contact to offer the files. To be honest, we want to keep the files here for security but we don’t want people who have a right to these files feeling forced to say no to taking them. I’m trusting you not to open the files, just to help find the people they belong to and maybe help give them to those rightful owners. That is something I can’t trust Scott with. He’s fought some of the mutants from these files, I don’t want him feeling undue guilt.” Tony smiled sadly “When your teachers were students, Ororo accidentally conjured a blizzard that trapped me and Remy here. Some of the students got a little stir crazy and rowdy, I think they tried tossing a ball around inside and one of them crashed into Scott, he was still pretty new so he didn’t close his eyes in time. I got blasted through three walls, Charles had the students responsible cover for the staff who couldn’t make it through the blizzard so they wouldn’t have a chance to cause another accident. The worst of my injuries was some internal bruising that meant I couldn’t practice martial arts because that’s considered strenuous. When Scott remembered either last night or this morning, depending on which side of midnight I got back on, he started feeling guilty because he forgot. To be totally honest, I forgot until I saw his name on a file while I was looking for Logan’s then I realized we’d met before. Repetition and value, something must either happen a lot or mean a lot for you to remember it in the long run. That accident lacked both, which is why we both forgot. For Scott, it was another mishap with his powers. For me, it was Tuesday. I don’t know if it was actually Tuesday but you know-”

“You get hurt a lot.”

“Yeah. I don’t drink because I once got so drunk that my powers caused Remy’s power to go haywire and he accidentally collapsed a building, with us inside. While we were unconscious, first responders arrived and probably went to check Remy’s eyes for dilation. His eyes are red on black, I’m not even sure they dilate visibly, but the point is, they saw he was a mutant. My mutation is totally invisible, my injuries from assassin training not so much. Put it together you got two obviously very dangerous men on your hands. I woke up four days later, handcuffed to a hospital bed. Remy and I had both been sedated for several days while a decision was made on how to handle us. Not sure why they put us in the same room, that was one of the three dumbest things they did with us. When Remy saw I was awake, he started cursing me out in every language he knew except English, which alerted the cop posted outside our room to my wakefulness. Anytime we had to be dealt with, cops came in pointing guns at us, even when it was a nurse checking our vitals, which are affected by stress. We were there a week, would’ve busted out sooner but we discovered the hospital was crooked. A young mother went past our room pleading to get her son back and when Remy said something in a foreign language the woman understood and she tried to approach, cop outside drew a gun on her and made it clear he thought he could shoot her and get away with it because she mothered a mutant son. We bust out, find the lab in the basement and help whoever we can inside. Remy actually got some money together for that young mother to fund a move, I called one of my exes to help.”

“One of your exes?”

“Yeah. Another telepath friend, Emma Frost, who doesn’t have Charles’ strict morals or mobility issues. She could and would use her powers to help these people. In fact, I don’t know if it happened before or after this incident but she followed Charles’ example and made her home a school. Problem is, she disappeared many years ago. Remy and I helped transfer her students here when her school was no longer meeting the requirements to fly under the radar. That was a fun Saturday,” Tony told John “Two things set Remy and I apart from the X-Men, even though we sort of do the same work. One, our set-ups are totally different. The X-Men have resources, they have day jobs, they have a reliable mailing address, all things we don’t have. Two, we do things very differently. I’m not talking about making due, that falls under resources. Remy and I- The X-Men are mutants you can and should look up to, they do their best to be mutant superheroes, to be role models. Remy and I, we don’t do that. In fact, we usually claim we just do what we have to and that’s not always a lie or a misnomer, an understatement. Sometimes that is what we do. Yes, what we do probably seems impressive but we’re not the mutants you should look up to, we try not to be seen doing what we do. Sure, both of us and the X-Men work in the shadows but the X-Men are trying to build a world where all mutants can operate in the light.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I get the strangest feeling that I have become your role model and I don’t ever want to hear about how I should bring you with me when I leave. It’s bad enough I’m planning to come back here, I never do that because I have dangerous enemies who would threaten this school and it wouldn’t be an empty threat but I’m already making an exception to my rule.”

“What is your rule?”

“I never plan to come back. Remy and I come to the school, we stay for a short period of time, do some work and we leave. Yes, we’ve done this before but this is the first time I’ve planned on coming back.”

“Really?”

“I may be a thief but you are not a mark, I have no reason to lie. In fact, I have reason not to lie. When you lie to someone, you have to maintain the lie and trust those who know the truth will do the same. Being honest is easier. That isn’t to say lying is always bad, there are times when that simply isn’t true. In my line of work, I lie to people all the time, usually as part of a plan to steal something. Remy and I are both adept at distracting people so when we need a distraction, we weigh our options to determine which one of us is more important to the other part of the job. John, I’m breaking my rule and that’s final.” John chuckled a bit at Tony’s overly serious delivery of the last sentence. Turning back to the cabinet, Tony pointed at the notebook Hank left out “Get me that. I haven’t messed with most of this stuff, believe it or not, it’s where the Mutant Affairs Secretary left it.” John went to hand him the notebook when Tony pointed to the top of the cabinet. “You’re going to make a list of the names on the files in this cabinet. Your list needs to be legible with space beside each name for notations, which shouldn’t be too hard. While you’re doing that, I’m going to hunt down some tape and think of what kind of notes we’ll need to make. When you’re done, we’re going to tape the list to the cabinet and make a key for the notations. I want you to include the names James Howlett and Scott Summers on the list, those are the two files I have passed out while I was here. Okay?”

“Okay, it’s not rocket science.”

“I never went to school yet I could probably build one of those.”

“On luck?”

“No, I was born a Stark, engineering is in my blood.”

“Why don’t you consider yourself a Stark?”

“Remember my definition of family and how Charles told me he wasn’t going to invite me to study here because he didn’t want me to feel miserable again? Put two and two together. We met when I was four, he said I had one of the strongest minds he’d ever encountered, and apparently found me to be miserable. In fact, Charles used to tell me that my strong mind was how he could always contact me through Cerebro, that it was very easy to lock onto without doing significant harm. If Charles focuses too hard on someone while using Cerebro, he could kill them. Since the machine differentiates between mutants and humans, he could wipe out humanity just by focusing hard on the humans he senses. A few might survive, those who unwittingly put themselves in places with psychic shielding but I’m pretty sure history tells us a few people always survive genocide. As I said before, the Professor might just have one of the strongest and weakest gifts of them all.”

“Huh.”

“Sorry, I’m lecturing. Not a teacher, never even attended school and I still find myself lecturing a student.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, I’m gonna shut up and focus on my work, you focus on yours and talk only if you want to.”

“There is something I’ve been wondering about.”

“Yeah?”

“You and Remy are,” he struggled for a second.

“Don’t bother being polite, it’s annoying.”

“You said your bi and Emma sounds like a girl’s name, how does that work with you and Remy being together?”

“Sometimes I love Remy like a brother, sometimes I want to strangle him with his own bo staff. To answer your question, Remy and I are partners but we’re not always romantic partners. We’re both bi, our relationship is what you might call open. Emma was my ex but she was also Remy and they weren’t on good terms when I made that phone call. I don’t think they had ever been on good terms since their little tryst. She’d deal with me but not Remy. There are a lot of people like that, people who will deal with one of us but not the other, not all of those people have slept with either of us. Even when Remy and I are involved together like that, we’ve had one night stands on the side. I don’t mean to sound like a douche or anything, it’s just the way it is for us. We’ve been working together for decades but we haven’t been together like that the whole time.”

“Okay.”

“As awkward as that was for you, it was worse for me. Hiding awkwardness is a big part of playing a mark.”

“Right.” They finished their respective tasks rather quickly and Tony helped John come up with a key to stick inside the bottom drawer. With the list taken care of John left. Tony had to make Remy new glasses and be ready to perform maintenance on their bikes once his partner turned in for the night. They would have to ride out in a few days to keep SHIELD from tracking them back to the school somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last X-Men 1 chapter, hope you enjoyed. I plan on getting X-2 out of the way, probably not gonna take 11 chapters to do that, before working the MCU into this. Tell me what you think


	12. The Capitol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy and Tony in DC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is such a short chapter, the next one will be longer

After Remy ran their errands, Tony got the bikes in as close to perfect condition as possible while teaching John and a few interested students a few things about mechanics. He also helped John download a ton of music after modifying the software on the player he bought the teen. The day came and they rode out before the sun. “We are not robbing the Smithsonian,” said Tony without preamble as they rode towards the capital. Charles had given them a few things to give Hank and made a strange request, he wanted them to break into the White House to deliver a file on William Stryker so that the authorities would take the threat that the man posed seriously. Charles was very worried about Jason and knew his father had too much sway for anything less than extreme measures to have an effect, or so he claimed. In response to Tony’s declaration, Remy chuckled and nodded, “Maybe we can hit something along the way or make a detour but we should probably widen our net.”

“Why you want to steal? Why not hit casinos?”

“Gotta maintain your rep.”

Remy got a look of enlightenment on his face that quickly morphed into a smirk. Tony had put some custom-made hardware in their helmets, which enabled him to see Remy without distorting his view of the road and talk to him without yelling over the wind. Before they’d left, he made videos of himself building several pieces of tech, explaining what each thing did as he worked, so that his inventions could be recreated as needed by the Professor’s people. Once they had made their delivery and put the fear of God into the President, they would be free to do whatever they pleased once more. Tony suggested “Maybe we should take advantage of our time in the big house, get something on our birdies.”

“Non, bad idea.”

“Agreed.” They went through cities as much as possible so Tony could draw luck from as many sources as possible to minimize the damage caused by the loss. As always when they were on a mission, they stayed in no name motels in no name towns. The drive to DC was long but well worth it. Tony met with Secretary McCoy and handed him a small box, “From Professor Xavier, for Doctor McCoy.” The way he dressed made it look like his jacket was hiding the logo for a delivery company.

“Thank you, young man.”

Hank knew exactly who he was regardless of dress as he accepted the box and signed the clipboard. Charles had set up the meeting under the guise of a courier service he needed to sign personally for. In the beginning of their working relationship, Charles had often been slightly exasperated by Tony’s need for theatrics but by the time Hank moved on from the school, he understood it all too well.

With a lay of the land and a few other things acquired from the visit to Hank’s office, Remy and Tony were able to move in record time. They quietly combed through the Oval Office and found several bugs to place on top of their files, which were disguised as being from Stryker. Tony made sure there was nothing to prove a set up via electronics. They were in and out as though the White House were any other estate they had cased. His understanding of the security in the Oval Office enabled Tony to set up a live feed for him and Remy to watch from a safe distance. The couple got to enjoy observing the discovery of their package, the message scribbled on stationary to explain the bugs proving just as horrifying to the people who made the discovery as the mysterious file. “He’s done for,” said Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need feedback


	13. The Base

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alkali Lake and the aftermath

Within days, news got out of Colonel William Stryker being arrested for his involvement in a terrorist plot. There was a knock at the door to the apartment the thief pair was squatting in, “Anton Chance, we have a job for you.” Tony looked at Remy who shrugged before the luck mutant went to the door.

“Yeah? Who’s we?” Another knock and something hit the peephole. Tony signed to Remy, who stood up and moved just out of sight. Opening the door, he let the agents in. Three agents, two looked to be flunkies in the stereotypical non-uniformed guard way. “What do you want?” The third man, the lead agent in formation if nothing else, held out an envelope. Tony took it and opened it, “Alkali Lake.”

“We’re prepared to pay your expenses and let you take any mutants you find wherever you deem appropriate.”

“Any mutants Stryker had his hands on will need treatment, they’ll need support, that costs money too.”

The agent saw the logic trap Tony was leading him into, “I am sure you know someone who can provide that.”

“I believe self-interest is the only thing you can count on from total strangers so what’s your stake in this? You want any mutants he might’ve messed with to disappear to make the case easier, is that it? Personally, I’d love to see Emma Frost again. I have reason to believe Stryker leveraged her against her sister Kayla Silverfox, forcing the latter to control the Wolverine until he was ready to reclaim his prized Weapon X and when she was no longer useful, he killed her. Twice, first he faked her death to lure his prize to him then he shot her right in front of him. Emma got out of Three Mile Island, set up a school in Mass and then she vanished right here in DC. Took everything I had and then some to get her students to safety.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of this, I assure you.”

“Yeah, it is. Your boys can’t say the same thing.” Tony stole the lead agent’s gun and shot the man flanking him on the right, Tony’s left, in the leg then again in the arm. “Best get going if you don’t want to be here when cops show up, Eagle Scout or are you a Squid Scout?” Tossing the man his gun, Tony told the lead agent, “We’ll be in touch. If your boy’s got any halfway decent training, he won’t need you for the rescue.” He turned around and walked away, disappearing in seconds thanks to his training.

“Guess we goin’ to Alaska.”

“Yup.”

They chose to stow away on a cargo plane headed that way, dropping out of the wheel well and heading into the nearest town, Tony using his luck power to find it. Before they left DC, Tony briefed Charles telepathically while the older man was using Cerebro. Their motorcycles were going to find their way to safety thanks to the Professor, though it may be years before either man saw their bike. Keeping his glasses on, Remy scrounge up directions to a city where they may find a map. While he was doing that, Tony talked his way into a couple of heavy coats and boots for them, quipping “The cold is a great hangover cure. Not sure how we got here but we really need to get out of here before we freeze.” He must have found the perfect mark because he was invited to bring his friend inside the nice old lady’s home for some warm food, “Much appreciated.”

She asked “Where are you boys from?”

“We grew up in New Orleans but I’m originally from New York, hence the lack of an accent.”

Hiding his own accent, Remy said “I think I’ve managed to drop it quite well.” He touched his glasses “Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, Chance explained. Hope you find your way back to warmer climates.”

“I’ll drink to that,” quipped Remy, smirking at his friend’s choice of alias.

When they finished eating, Tony insisted on doing the dishes as payment before they headed out. Following the directions Remy procured, they spent the day walking along the highway, stopping occasionally so that Remy could create a fire to warm up. They arrived at the medium sized city hours after dark and split up. Tony got the map and scoped out a ride to steal while Remy stole warm clothes. They met up to plan the next leg of their trip at a local McDonald’s. “I say we crash here and finish up tomorrow.”

Tony nodded, “Agreed. Normally, I would suggest camping but it’s much too cold outside.”

The next day, they stole a car at first light and drove out of the county before stopping for gas. Filling it up, they dumped the car two cities away from the base and hid on a truck to get closer. Despite what he said on their first night in Alaska, Tony and Remy made camp a few miles away from the base, having stolen supplies when they dumped the car.

Three days were spent casing the base to figure out when there would be the least number of people on duty. When it was time, they moved more on memory than sight to get inside. The pair cleared the base swiftly, knocking everyone out efficiently, even those who were asleep. As they worked, they mapped out the place in their minds. A woman with claws stood in their way near the end, Remy charged his bo staff, alerting her to his own mutant status with the glow that surrounded the weapon. She retracted her claws, “Who are you?”

“Gambit and Chance, you?”

“I don’t have one of those-”

“You don’t have a codename. Um, we’ll figure something out. Do you know your way around this place?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here before, a lot.”

“Great,” Tony muttered “Stryker’s up to his old tricks.”

“What?”

“Um, we’ll explain everything but first thing’s first, we got a job to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Getting mutants safely out of this base. You in?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Do you know where the mutants are?”

She nodded “I’ll show you.”

As she helped them clear the base, Chance and Gambit had to stop her from killing. Chance declared “That’s it. Your new codename is Lady Deathstrike.” Gambit and Yuriko both rolled their eyes, although the former’s were obscured by his glasses. “Unless you’ve come up with something better since we met.”

“No, it’ll have to do.”

“Please stop killing, m’lady.” The two other mutants in the base were a blue boy in a cage and William’s son Jason who was confined to a wheelchair. Tony decided “We need to get the soldiers all in one place, preferably somewhere they can be locked in. We also need to gather up blankets and jackets to use for warmth, place those by whatever transport we’re taking out of here. Obviously, we also need to get both of our fellow mutants out of here. If we could steal some files to make sure this doesn’t get swept under the rug, that’d be great too. Our priority has to be getting the mutants clear.”

“Agreed,” said Deathstrike. “I’ll get the soldiers, Gambit can get the kid in the chair and you get the other one.”

“We’ll meet up at the garage or whatever they call it,” said Tony before the three split up to complete their tasks. Yuriko had given them directions while she was leading them around the base, almost like a high stress tour. Finding the right place, Tony asked “What’s your name?” The boy didn’t answer, looking at him with cautious fear. Silently cursing himself for not trading with Remy, Tony told him “I am here to get you out but I would greatly appreciate it if you would help me get the other mutants here out. What’s your name? I need something to call you so either tell me your name or I’ll call you blue.”

“Kurt Wagner but in the Munich circus, I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler.”

“Let’s go with Nightcrawler until we’re out of here, how about that?”

“And who are you?”

“Call me Chance, it’s better than Lucky Charm.” Kurt actually smiled a bit at that. Tony was glad he had thought to strip the soldiers as they went. Even though he had to stop to get rid of most of the things he had picked up, he still had a set of keys. When Kurt saw them, his eyes widened in fear. Tony smiled “I stole these. C’mon, Nightcrawler, do I look like I work here?” Kurt looked him over before shaking his head. “What is your mutation anyway? Beyond the obvious, I mean.”

“I can teleport.”

“Awesome. My power is called luck manipulation, I can steal people’s luck and then share it with other people or keep it for myself. My best friend is an energy mutant. He has red eyes, well red on black, and when he was little, people called him Le Diable Blanc, the White Devil because of his eyes. He’s a nice guy, his preferred codename is Gambit and you should never play cards with him.” As he spoke, he tried different keys before finding the right one and opening the door. “I got two other mutants working with me on getting all of our people out. Gambit’s one of them. We’re also working with a woman we met here, she’s got like claws. Ring any bells?” Kurt thought about it then nodded slowly. “We’re calling her Deathstrike because she doesn’t have a codename. There’s the three of us, four now, and another boy named Jason who my oldest friend asked me to find. Other than that, nobody’s getting out of here if we have anything to say about it. Gambit is working on getting Jason to our rendezvous and Deathstrike is going to lock up the soldiers. I’m gonna show you where our rendezvous is then I need you to help gather blankets and stuff that we can use to keep warm while I arrange transport. Gambit will probably help either you or Deathstrike. Sound good?”

“I suppose.”

Tony took his hand and started running, “We don’t know what kind of outside support this base might be receiving so we’re trying to clear out as soon as possible.” Stopping at the garage, they met Gambit who had Jason with him. Kneeling beside the boy’s chair, he checked his eyes to confirm his identity, Charles had shared a memory of the boy when Tony told him what they were hired to do. Pointing to each of them in turn, Tony introduced “Gambit, Nightcrawler, Chance,” he tilted his head as he looked at Jason, “The Professor told me that you’re a great illusionist but I have no idea what your codename might be, how about Mirage?” Other than the boy looking at him, his question garnered no answer. “It’ll have to do.” Standing up, he told Remy “I need you to show Nightcrawler where Deathstrike said the blankets would be and gather up as many as you can. Put a few from the first load on Mirage while I get us some safe transport out.” He set to work on disabling any tracers on a truck, Remy nodding and leading Kurt out of the room. Gambit was a much better guide than Chance, Nightcrawler decided. Deathstrike stole the energy mutant away to drag the soldiers’ bodies into lockable rooms.

Less than an hour after they finished knocking out guards, they were getting ready to move out. Deathstrike helped Gambit lift Mirage up into the back of the truck before all four of the mobile mutants worked to load up the blankets and shrugged on the soldiers’ arctic-wear jackets. When they were done, Chance and Deathstrike claimed the two cab seats. Nightcrawler and Mirage were huddled in a makeshift nest in the back with Gambit watching over them. Chance made a point of driving past their camp, wrecking it to throw off suspicion. Once they were out of the area, Deathstrike said “My name is Yuriko.”

“Tony.”

“Remy.”

“Kurt.”

Tony said “The boy in the chair is Jason, I don’t know what they did to him.”

Two weeks later, Jason and Kurt were at the school, Yuriko choosing to stay with the pair of thieves for a while. When Tony left to collect their pay, Remy was teaching Yuriko how to hustle at poker. When he returned, Yuriko was on top of his partner and the former kid assassin had to ask “Are you trying to kill him? If not, take it to the bedroom.” After a moment’s hesitation, he was left alone in the living room. Tony got to work, getting them a couple jobs lined up then the noise got to be too much and he went to work. A few days later, they were flush with cash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised X-2 didn't take nearly as long as X-Men 1. To be fair, X-2 had a lot less characters and character development. Feedback loved and appreciated


	14. The Avengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Remy tag along with Steve Rogers

They were all sitting on a rooftop when Yuriko asked about safe passage to Japan. Tony said “That can be arranged, sure. I’ll ask around, see what Yakuza we need to go through to get you home. But first,” he smirked at his two partners-in-crime. Remy didn’t hesitate to return the look and a moment later Yuriko added her own coy smile. A week later- because Tony was lucky and between the three of them, they had the needed connections- the two men were on their own again. Sending Lady Deathstrike home had landed them in New York City, which meant they were in the right place at the right time to see Eagle Eye enter a non-descript gym.

Sharing a look, Tony and Remy slipped into the gym after Nick Fury, catching the tail end of his pitch “Is that an open offer?”

“Gambit and Chance.” Alkali Lake wasn’t the first time Tony called himself that, although he wouldn’t be surprised in the least to discover any of those soldiers were SHIELD agents. On top of that, he often used Chance in place of Boudreaux since he wasn’t sure if being exiled meant he forfeited his right to the family name. All things considered, Fury calling him that wasn’t even worth an eye roll.

Both of them bowed “At your service.” Straightening, they added “For a price.”

Tony leveled with him “You need us. Stane’s a snake, why do you think Stark kicked him to the curb?” Somehow Stane saw an opportunity when Howard had a falling out with Peggy Carter that led to him being roped into SHIELD, even though he officially took a job elsewhere after being forced out of SI and carried out a hostile takeover that involved changing said company’s name.

“I don’t need-”

“You’re a fool, Fury.” Tony pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his jacket and handed it to Steve. “See ya around.” Using a public library’s computer, he had copied old newspaper articles on Howard Stark following his son’s death onto a blank document and printed it. He had plans to give John the collage in order to better explain why he no longer considered himself Tony Stark but helping Steve Rogers escape a SHIELD power grab would serve the greater good.

Meeting up at Rogers’ apartment, the three of them went over the briefing packet and Tony texted someone on the downlow. When the SHIELD transport jet arrived, Tony said “You don’t have to pay us, we’ll pick something up while we’re on the job.” Tony returned the files Steve had been given to the man in the suit “Do I know you, Agent-?”

“Coulson and I don’t think so.”

“Right. Anton Chance,” he offered his hand and the agent hesitantly shook it. “My partner Remy LeBeau and I are gonna lend a hand.”

“Thank you, Mr. Chance.” The pair sat with the Captain on the flight to the Helicarrier, which was in the water when they arrived.

As they disembarked, a red haired agent walked over, Coulson introduced everyone, “Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, Mr. Chance and Mr. LeBeau.”

Steve acknowledged her with a nod, “Ma’am,” while Remy and Tony bowed “Agents.”

A sly smile on her face, Natash said “Hi,” then turned to Coulson. “They need you on the bridge. They’re starting the face-trace.”

“See you there,” the agent walked away, leaving the other four.

Natasha began subtly leading them towards the railing of the Helicarrier. “It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

Steve seemed startled, “Trading cards?”

“They’re vintage, he’s very proud.”

Turning away from the apparent spy clearly working the Captain, Remy and Tony notice Bruce Banner walking around the ship, trying to avoid people walking in his way. Anton smiled at Remy and the both nudged the Captain from either side, hard enough to knock a normal man over. Following their gazes, Steve’s eyes light on the awkward man “Dr. Banner.” The trio walk up to the man, Remy and Tony making an effort to subtly appear non-threatening as they flank the soldier, their matching grins doing most of the work. Steve shook Bruce’s hand when he got close while Remy pulled Tony to one side to break the accidental formation.

Sounding as awkward as he looked, Bruce said “Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming. Didn’t mention the other two.”

“Word is you can find the cube.” Steve was very nearly responding before Bruce finished “And they probably didn’t know.” He looked beside him, introducing “Anton Chance and Remy LeBeau, they tagged along.”

The fugitives exchanged nods before the scientist asked “Is that the only word on me?”

“Only word I care about.”

Taking in the sentiment, Bruce said”It must be strange for you, all of this.”

Looking to where a group of men in training are running, which reminds him of his Army days, Steve said “Well, this is actually kind of familiar.”

Natasha cut in “Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It’s gonna get a little hard to breath.”

The Helicarrier began to shake in preparation to set "sail". Others aboard strap down planes and Quinjets in preparation. Wondering why men were doing laps a moment ago, Tony guessed they were too low on the totem pole to get much notice.

Shocked, Steve asked “Is this a submarine?” Tony shared a look with Remy, how isolated has Captain America been since he got out of the ice?

Forcing a laugh, Bruce asked “Really? They wanted me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?” Recalling how he was awkwardly pacing, Tony suppressed a sigh. Whoever brought him here abandoned him in an obvious power play instead of taking him inside, Tony would bet a couple grand that agent was named Romanoff.

Against Romanoff’s advice, they both move closer to the edge of the Helicarrier. Four huge lift fans mounted on the sides started to lift into the air as the ship took flight. Steve watched in awe while Bruce just smiled, “Oh, no. This is much worse.” Their brief interactions on the bridge are just an awkward continuation of their exchanges atop the ship.


	15. The Turning Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avengers, meet X-Men. X-Men, SHIELD's latest bright idea.

In Germany, Remy and Tony danced around Loki, coming in close for mere moments before backing off to let the other take a shot. They’re both skilled but Tony’s precision strikes make Remy look like a brawler. Getting the scepter away was child’s play for two professional thieves and playing keep away was half the fun of the fight. When they’re ready to wind down, the two shared a look before they got Loki to fall on the tip, his eyes reverting to green from blue.

“Interesting,” Tony muttered as Remy charged a hand on Loki’s mouth and shook his head. They board the jet, Steve trailing in their wake, feelings of awe and uselessness at war within him. No wonder SHIELD just let them tag along.

When Thor hit them, it was like an encore to their earlier performance but this time, the fight ended when Tony stole the Thunderer’s weapon. Seeing the man freeze and feeling the power he now wields, Tony only had to point to get Thor to take a seat beside Loki. With Remy holding onto the spear, the two sit across from the brothers.

As they neared the Helicarrier, Tony made a deal with Thor “You hold onto this and I’ll hold onto the sceptre. If I think you’re gonna start a fight, I’ll take you out and keep the hammer.” Thor accepted his weapon back with a nod. Hands free, Tony took the sceptre from Remy. “You stay with Loki, I’ll meet you on the bridge.” Nodding, the master thief followed the agents escorting their prisoner.

Meandering through the floating base, Tony drained some luck from everyone and a lot of luck from specific people. Under the telepathic guidance of Charles Xavier who was the recipient of his text, Tony knew who were Squids and who were Eagles. Much as he hated it, he restrained himself when draining the Eagles.

Joining the briefing, he walked right up to Bruce Banner to shake his hand “Didn’t get a chance to do that earlier. It is a true pleasure to meet you, Dr. Banner.” Leaning in as though to compliment his alter ego, he slipped a business card into the man’s hand “Don’t look now, just say thank you and hide it.” Spinning around, he addressed the friendly alien “Thor, think fast, what color are Loki’s eyes?”

“Green.”

“They are now but at the start of our little battle, they were blue just like the gem in this here scepter. I suspect a connection.”

Seeing him toss said scepter between his hands, Coulson coyly offered, “We’ll take that off your hands.”

“Not until you pay my fee, otherwise this is my fee. Alien metal is worth a lot of money to the right person, are you that person?” He moved away with grace, holding the staff in one hand as he worked his magic on the semicircle of screens he suspected were for the Director, where he had earlier planted his bug. “Well, lookey, the SHIELD Index laid bare. Check this out, Stevie Wonder Man.” He sent the files to the projector screens over the table. “I say that’s our cue to leave. Coming, Dr. Banner or would you rather stay with the people who did that?”

The gruesome pictures on display erased any traces of hesitation from the other man, “I’m coming.”

Remy had joined them and as they left the bridge, he led the way to Loki’s cell. For a moment, everyone was just stunned by Tony’s show but when that moment passed, the Avengers were under fire from the people who had brought them together. Without thinking, Tony employed the sceptre’s defensive measures. “Thor, that hammer lets you conjure storms, right?”

“Aye.”

“Can you control the wind without summoning lightning?”

When the Thunderer hesitated, Tony took the hammer and gave Remy the spear, trying out his idea. Thankfully, it worked and they made it to Loki’s cell where an ambush lay in wait. Remy sighed and traded alien weapons with his partner, throwing charged playing cards while Tony opened the cell and hustled their people inside. Dropping the damn thing, Tony dove after him and got underneath them in the ocean. Using the hammer’s power over air to keep from drowning, Tony pushed the cage up just high enough that its occupants would not drown either.

Fortunately, Charles had been in his mind and deployed a few X-Men on his signal. From aboard the Blackbird, Jean lifted the cell out of the ocean and Tony moved around to smash the doors with the alien hammer. A stream of fire joined his efforts, alerting him to John’s presence on the jet. Together, they quickly got it open. Jean pulled the occupants from the cell onto the jet before dropping it while John helped Tony out of the water. “Cold,” was all he said when John looked at him. Pyro grabbed a set of sweats from the compartments in the jet while Tony used the hammer to try to dry faster. Setting the weapon on a bench, he threw on the sweats then continued to manipulate the air to keep the chill from sinking in. “Thanks for the rescue.”

“Not a problem,” Jean asked “Is anyone hurt?” The people who had been inside the cage shook their heads, although Loki appeared very shaky.

Tony advised “Let the Professor deal with it.”

With a nod, Jean moved to the front of the jet. “Everyone strap in.”

Tony moved from the bench to a proper seat, the others following his lead. Once they were all strapped in, Jean steered them away from the sinking cage towards the school. Tony told Bruce “You can look at the card now.” He happened to see the back first and smiled. Remy took the card, Tony explaining “We only have the one and we’re part-time recruiters.”

Nodding, Bruce said “Thank you.”

“And now you know where we’re going.”

“Are you okay?” asked Steve.

“Not remotely.” Tony shook his head to clear it, “Oh, you mean physically? I just need to change into some dry clothes and maybe take a warm shower, probably a nap. I’m not gonna keel over but I’m not 100%.”

“Okay. What’s wrong?”

“Hm?”

“What’s not remotely okay?”

“Well, when I was 6, I was abducted by assassins and spent the next decade surrounded by said assassins, many of whom thought I deserved to be dead just because of the circumstances under which I came to be there. My mutant powers manifested when one of those professional killers tried to enforce their belief that I should be dead. Only reason I was alive for him to try is because I was smart enough and quick enough to get the knife from a kid who looked just like me, killing him when the assassin king pitted us against each other. My powers made sure the assassin failed when I was 15 but also made the surgery to save me infinitely more difficult.” Tony looked around the jet and realized his words were having an impact on Thor more than Steve or John. “What’s wrong, Point Break?”

“Nothing, my friend.”

“Okay. Thanks for letting me hold onto this, mon ami.” He lifted the hammer. Thor nodded mutely.

“Who is the Professor?” asked Bruce, drawing everyone’s attention “You said 'let the Professor deal with it'. Who is the Professor and what is it?”

“It is what SHIELD launched the Avengers Initiative for and the Professor is the X-Men’s founder. He’s confined to a wheelchair so he stays out of the field but he is their leader. His name’s on that card I gave you.”

“Charles Xavier,” said the doctor, earning a nod from Tony who was shivering a bit.

Thankfully, they landed before his condition could deteriorate or too many more questions could be asked. Remy moved to his side, “Let Remy help.” The energy mutant experimentally charged the sweats that were soaked from the inside out and Tony just watched him as he worked. “There.”

“Thanks. I’m still gonna change, that woulda helped more if you’d done it when we got on the plane.” Remy escorted him up to the guest room that was basically their room at the school, leaning against the door while Tony stripped out of his damp clothes. He was a bit self-conscious when it came to his chest and the scars that marred his torso. When he manifested, his power made the assassin’s knife miss his vital organs but he still passed out. With his luck absorption power active, what should have been a quick but delicate surgery took much longer due to the doctors being overcome by misfortune. Even decades later, Tony’s body bore the marks from that in addition to those that fell under the banner of occupational hazards. In the darkness of the night, Tony had no problem exposing his chest to any number of nameless lovers who would likely barely remember him, if at all.

Once he was dressed in warm clothes, he and Remy went back down to the War Room to wait for the X-Men/Avengers briefing. Steve decided to stay and catch up with the times, Thor all but ordered Loki stay to recover from his ordeal (Tony could hazard a guess as to what that was but wisely kept his mouth shut rather than seek confirmation) and Bruce chose to take a teaching position. “Finally,” Tony cheered. “I know you guys try, Prof, but your science program was at its best before Hank went into politics.”

“No offense taken, Tony.”

Tony turned to the scientist in question “I’ll give you a tour of the labs. I’m a natural engineer but I know where Hank keeps the chemicals and stuff, you could probably do research while you’re here.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Plus the Prof could help you and the Hulk reach an understanding so you can stop being scared of yourself all the time, he is a telepath with experience in dangerous powers.”

“Right.”

Scott said “Tony, stop talking.” Mutely, the excited mutant nodded. “There’s no pressure, Dr. Banner. I’m sure you’ll find teaching high school is very different from what you did before your accident. We’ll help you out, you just have to ask.”

“Thanks.”

The X-Men took over the Tesseract hunt while their government contacts dealt with the SHIELD Helicarrier falling from the sky. Overall, the whole thing was laughably easy when uber competent people were involved. Tony gave Bruce the promised tour, “You can use whatever is in here. Hank hasn’t done much work down here, if any, since he left to do whatever he did before he was appointed Mutant Affairs Secretary. For the most part, you’ll have the place to yourself. You can always invite students to join you down here, once you get comfortable dealing with students and decide what you want to do down here. Point is, the lab space is all yours. Jean and Charles have a long term project tracking mutations but they work out of the infirmary for that.” Tony showed him around and explained “One of the students, John Allerdyce has access to this part of the lab, he’s helping me and the Prof track down Weapon X survivors to share their files with them. Other than him and me, the only people you’ll see down here are those you invite. I’m serious, nobody ventures this deep, at least not on purpose.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Guess not. I don’t know what comforting is. My life’s about as far from normal as you can get. I think I might know something that is comforting.” Tony showed him a door.

“What is that?”

“Open it.”

Bruce went through and found “Stairs?”

“Look at the door itself.”

“What am I looking at?”

“No lock. There are no locks on the stairs. If you look around, you’ll find that any doors that have locks are locked from the inside. There is not a single room in this entire building that someone could be locked inside. Actually, that’s not 100% true, I’m being told. Lemme show you.” He took Bruce through a convoluted series of hallways to a set of doors “These are the only rooms in the entire building that lock from the outside and notice how hard it is to reach this part of the base.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“There’s no way to trick into a cell and nobody here would even think of it if there were because many of the people here are just as dangerous as you are. The Professor can read the minds of every person within a range of about 250 miles. What’s the Hulk got on that?”

“How exactly does your power work?”

“I can absorb luck, either good or bad, from a person and store it until I choose to either use it or share it. Sometimes when I pass the scene of a violent crime, I’ll share luck with the detectives on scene but for all I know, the luck I give Detective John Smith will cause him to win the lottery instead of helping him catch the bad guy. In addition to absorbing, storing and sharing luck, I can also manipulate luck without taking it. I can boost someone’s pre-existing luck, which I usually use to cause misfortune to fall upon someone who is against me, either when they’re chasing me or threatening me. Remy’s power is also tricky. From what we’ve been told, he converts potential energy into kinetic, which is how he can make playing cards explode.”

“Interesting.”

“Yeah.” Tony clapped his hands once, noticing how Bruce flinched “Sorry. You might want to think about asking the Professor to dull those reflexes while you adjust to living at a boarding school, the students aren’t exactly quiet as a mouse, what with being teenagers with crazy powers. Anyway, you got the run of the place, I’m gonna head to bed.”

“See ya around.”

“Remy and I might stay a few days but it’s safer for everyone if we don’t stay indefinitely. Besides, we’d be terrible recruiters, even part-time, if we didn’t keep an eye out for potential students and we can’t do that from here. See ya-” he realized they were standing outside the cells. “How about I show you back to the labs then head up?”

“That’d be nice.” Tony led him back to the lab then they took the elevator up to the school above the base and parted ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like X-2, Avengers came out pretty short. Next, I'll set up X-Men 3 which will lead into the HYDRA Reveal. Those two will take more work so don't expect more of these two and done deals.
> 
> Feedback is not a dirty word


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